Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg is using NBA 2K26 to simulate playing alongside Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis as he prepares for his first NBA season.
Credit: AP/Scanpix nuotr.
The NBA preseason is still underway, and training camp is weeks from tipping off, but Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg is already putting in extra work to prepare for his debut season.
Cooper Flagg
Cooper Flagg
Position: PF, SF
Age: 18
Height: 206 cm
Weight: 93 kg
Birth place: United States of America
Flagg, the 18-year-old No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft, has turned to the newly released NBA 2K26 video game to get an early feel for playing alongside Mavs stars Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis.
Ronnie Singh—better known as Ronnie2K, the face of the NBA 2K franchise and its Digital Marketing Director—told Heavy Sports that Flagg has been using the game as a tool to study team chemistry before he ever steps on the court.
"I've been talking to Cooper Flagg a lot the last couple of weeks, and he's already trying to shape up how he's going to fit into that team by playing the NBA2K26 game with him, integrated with Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis," Singh said.
"He might not get to play with Kyrie for a minute, so it's kind of cool that he gets to simulate that, see how the off-the-ball movement is. Our AI is so good. It really simulates the authentic experience of being on the court."
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Dallas will have to wait to see Flagg and Irving share the floor in real life, as the veteran guard is still recovering from an ACL injury.
Flagg impressed in the NBA Summer League, putting up averages of 20.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks across 31.4 minutes per game.
In NBA 2K26, the rookie enters with an overall rating of 82—the highest among this year's class—and sits at No. 79 in the game's top 100 player rankings.
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